Volume 3 Chapter 13 I'm Struggling With This, But...
We finally arrived at the village── but what we saw was the worst imaginable.
Destruction sounds echoed from all around, and cries of distress could be heard from every direction. There were burning houses and people lying motionless on the ground.
"It's horrible..."
Kyunei covered her mouth with her hand, her voice trembling. Even though she had mentally prepared herself to some extent, it was only natural for her to react this way when faced with such a tragic scene.
But right now, it's not the time to offer comforting words.
"Kyunei, let's go!"
"Wha──?! Y-Yes!"
I drew my spear from its sheath and ran into the village with Kyunei.
Gram, I'm counting on you for scouting and guidance!
'Got it! For now, there are three goblins behind that building over there!'
Following the advice, a small monster── a goblin── appeared immediately. It was barely dressed, with only tattered rags wrapped around its waist. It clutched a dull sword in its hand.
As the goblin noticed our presence, it tried to raise its weapons, but before it could, I swung my spear and struck down the goblin's torso.
"Now it's the other side!"
I tried to aim the tip of my spear at the approaching goblin, but before I could, it let out a scream and collapsed. A knife was stuck in its forehead.
Turning towards Kyunei, she stood there in a throwing stance, still holding the knife.
"I told you, I won't be a burden."
Her voice trembled, but there was a stronger sense of anger than fear in her emotions. Her pride as a doctor outweighed her fear.
Gram, are there any survivors around the building?
'There's no one alive.'
In other words, all the people falling within my visual range are dead. Involuntarily, my hand tightened as I gripped the spear.
'I don't know if I can call it a blessing in disguise, but for a village of this size, there aren't enough bodies. It's probably been attacked not long ago.'
Does that mean there are still survivors?
'Yeah. There are still living humans left in the center of the village. But the goblins are also gathering in the center, probably targeting them. Mikage, who was ahead of us, is also there.'
Understood. The first thing to do is aim for the center of the village.
"Kyuunei, let's head to the center of the village. Most of the living humans are probably there."
"...Yeah, I know."
I thought she was going to help the fallen person recover, but Kyunei answered with regret.
"She can't feel any vitality from anyone else here..."
I see, she's a succubus. She must have sensed that there are no survivors nearby.
"Let's go, Yukina-kun. To save those who couldn't be saved, let's help as many people as we can."
"Yeah, you're right."
Kyunei was a stronger woman than I had imagined. To not waste her strong determination, we started running again.
As we made our way to the center of the village, we encountered goblins several times, but luckily they came at us in small numbers. I swung my spear at them head-on, slaughtering them, while Kyunei aimed for their weak spots with her knife and finished off the ones I missed.
Thanks to that, we were able to reach the center of the village without much trouble.
In a slightly open space, there stood an old church in the middle. Mikage was in front of its door, cutting down goblins one after another. There were already quite a number of goblin corpses scattered around.
Are the survivors inside the church? Even though there are a considerable number of goblins between here and Mikage's location, there was no time to hesitate.
"Let's charge through, Kyunei!"
"Understood!"
I accompanied Kyunei and rushed into the goblin enclosure.
"Enchantment - Weight Increase!!"
In response to my incantation, the weight of the black spear, Gram, significantly increased. I controlled its weight forcefully and forcefully mowed down the goblins. All the goblins within the reach of the spear were swept away by the super-heavy spear and blown away.
"I'm not done yet!"
I blew away the goblins in my field of vision one by one and pushed forward. The goblins were still unsettled by the surprise attack from behind. Taking advantage of that opening, I broke through the enclosure and successfully reunited with Mikage.
The goblins seemed wary of my sudden appearance and did not attempt to attack. During that time, we exchanged words.
"Mikage, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. The surviving villagers are inside here. When I arrived, the door was about to be broken."
It seems like it was a good decision to let her go ahead. If we were even a little late, there would have been more victims by now.
While pointing her sword at the goblin, Mikage said to Kyunei,
"Kyunei, please go inside the church and heal the injured. There are people in there who need urgent help."
"Understood. ...Both of you, be careful."
After casting healing magic on me and Mikage, Kyunei knocked on the door of the church and introduced herself as a doctor. The door opened just a little, and the villagers inside immediately invited Kyunei in.
After witnessing that, Mikage and I turned our attention back to the encircled goblins.
"If Yukina-sama hadn't acted quickly, the villagers would have been killed. I underestimated my opponent, the goblins, and only felt ashamed of my own immaturity."
"Instead of regretting what happened in the past, focus on defeating the monster in front of you. Right now, just think about keeping the people who are alive safe!"
I scolded Mikage, who lowered her eyes slightly. In response, Mikage steeled herself and glared at the monster in front of her.
'Now, partner, there's still more to come! This is where it gets real!'
Just as Gram said, goblins started gathering from every corner of the path leading to this place. The nest near the village seems to be larger than anticipated.
──Looks like this is going to take a while.
I gathered my determination and, with a battle cry, joined Mikage in attacking the goblins that came charging at us.
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